Change in Hosts Propels ‘Wheel of Fortune’ to Big Premiere Week Ratings

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As a die-hard fan of Wheel of Fortune and someone who has been following this iconic game show for decades, I must say that Ryan Seacrest is absolutely killing it as the new host! After Pat Sajak’s retirement, I was a bit skeptical about how the show would continue without him. But boy, was I wrong!

During Ryan Seacrest’s inaugural week as the host of Wheel of Fortune, there was a surge of intrigued spectators who tuned in – many of whom continued watching even beyond his premiere episode.

In the 2023-24 season’s final stretch, Pat Sajak retired as host of the syndicated game show after a remarkable four decades at the helm. However, starting the following season, Seacrest stepped in to take over hosting duties. Meanwhile, Sajak will continue his role as host for ABC’s primetime “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” during the 2024-25 season. The season premiere on Sept. 9 attracted a viewership of 9.63 million people, as per Nielsen – the highest audience for an opening episode since 2015, and not far off from the 11 million viewers who tuned in to Sajak’s farewell show.

During the inaugural week, we saw an average of 8.31 million viewers, marking a significant 21% increase compared to the premiere week back in September 2023. The subsequent four episodes after the season kick-off averaged around 7.9 million viewers each, which is notably higher than the 6.87 million viewers recorded during the opening week of last year.

Year-on-year, household ratings (a crucial evaluation metric for syndicated shows) increased by an impressive 21%. Furthermore, all major demographic groups experienced improvement of at least 10% compared to the previous year.

Host Sajak declared his retirement from the syndicated Wheel prior to the commencement of the 2023-24 season. Seacrest was appointed shortly afterwards, and co-host Vanna White agreed to continue with the show until 2025-26.

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2024-09-24 21:55